Sleep Disorders

Sleep disturbances or sleep problems below can cause distress and discomfort, impaired daytime functioning and serious complications. Sleep disorders are disorders that can cause problems with sleep patterns, either because of not being able to fall asleep, frequent awakenings during the night, or an inability to return to sleep after awakening.

Sleep disorders are divided into three main groups:

1. Dyssomnias

Dyssomnias which include insomnia of psychological origin (inability to sleep at night), altitude insomnia, insomnia of external origin (extrinsic), sleep disorders related to alcohol or medication and narcolepsy. Insomnia is a common complaint in people over the age of 60. A distinction is made between sleep onset insomnia, sleep maintenance insomnia and early awakening insomnia. Temporary insomnia can last up to 3 weeks. Beyond that, we speak of chronic insomnia.

2. Parasomnias

Parasomnias which are sleep disorders associated with nocturnal awakenings but without significant sleep disturbance or impaired alertness during the day. They are mainly observed in children but can persist in adults with a pathological character. Parasomnias include somnambulism, night terrors, sleep disturbance associated with REM sleep, nocturnal bruxism and nocturnal enuresis (urinary incontinence during the night).

3. Psychiatric

Sleep disorders of psychiatric, neurological origin or related to other illnesses.

Hypersomnia

Is a sleep disorder or sleep disorder characterized by excessive sleepiness. So that patients often need sleep time that is much longer than normal people.

Classification

Primary idiopathic hypersomnia is a neurological disorder in which the patient sleeps at night for long periods of time but is not refreshing. So that patients often take naps that are also long and unsatisfactory

Patients with hypersomnia may sleep for a period of approximately 20 hours a day. Examination results usually show a relatively normal sleep architecture compared to the disturbed sleep architecture in narcolepsy. Hypersomnia may also be secondary to medical conditions such as viral infections, particularly mononucleosis and encephalitis, or hydrocephalus.

Insomnia

Insomnia is a sleep disorder in which people have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. People with insomnia have one or more of the following symptoms:

• Trouble sleeping
• Frequently waking up at night and having trouble falling back asleep
• Wake up too early

Have at least one problem during the day such as fatigue; drowsiness; problems with mood, concentration; accidents at work or while driving, etc., due to lack of sleep.
Insomnia varies in how long it lasts and how often it occurs. About 50% of adults suffer from occasional insomnia and 1 in 10 suffers from chronic insomnia. Insomnia can occur on its own or it can be associated with a medical or psychiatric condition.

Insomnia can be short-term (acute or adjustment insomnia) or can last a long time (chronic insomnia). It can also come and go, with periods of time when a person does not have a sleep disorder.

Acute or adjustment insomnia can last from one night to several weeks. Insomnia is called chronic when a person suffers from insomnia at least three nights a week for a month or more. Read more: Insomnia: what causes it, what to do to go back to sleep?

Parasomnia

Parasomnias are sleep disorders that involve unwanted physical activities or experiences that occur during sleep, entry into sleep, or arousal from sleep.

This type of sleep disorder is more common in children (5% -15%) than adults (1%). Usually benign, but does not rule out a relationship with a traumatic wound.

Fatal Familial Insomnia – sleep problems

Fatal familial insomnia (often referred to as fatal insomnia), a hereditary disease. Affects about 100 people in the world. The person cannot sleep day & night. The patient dies 7-36 months after detection.
The diagnosis of fatal familial insomnia can be confirmed by genetic testing.

Narcolepsy

It is a sleep disorder that causes a person to feel sleepy during the day that is insurmountable and excessive. This is usually due to a fault in the brain mechanisms that regulate a person’s sleep and wakefulness.

A person who has narcolepsy can suddenly fall asleep while on the move. Although there is still no cure, special treatment from experts can control symptoms so that a person can live a normal life.

Read also: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) | Causes, Symptoms, Treatments and Medications

Snoring

Snoring is a sound produced during sleep due to the vibrations of the tissues in the upper airways.

Snoring is common in >3% of children and 32% of adults. With age, the incidence of snoring during sleep will increase until almost 50% of humans over 60 years experience it. Generally, snoring occurs more when inhaled (inspiration).

Sleep apnea

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder with difficulty breathing and when breathing suddenly stops during sleep.

Why is sleep apnea dangerous?

A serious sleep disorder that occurs when a person’s breathing is disturbed and even stops during sleep. A person with untreated sleep apnea will stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep, sometimes hundreds of times. This causes the brain as well as the body that is at rest does not get enough oxygen.

Sleepwalking – sleep problems

Sleepwalking or somnambulism is a complex motor behavior disorder that interferes with nighttime sleep. The process begins with sudden stimulation while a person is in slow-wave sleep and culminates in the activity of moving around in an altered state of consciousness.

Sleep walking aka sleep walking makes the patient wake up and walk while sleeping. Some patients tend to do other activities also while sleeping.

The scary part about sleepwalking is, the patient may be injured or die while walking without a sense of the outside world. Sleepwalking occurs when a person’s sleep shifts from a deep sleep to a deeper sleep or wakefulness state.

An example that often occurs, Sleep Walking sufferers will usually walk while sleeping and then talk to themselves like a conscious person. Yet when he woke up he had no recollection of what had happened to her or him.

Bedwetting

Bedwetting is urinating inadvertently while sleeping, standing, sitting or unable to hold urine and then coming out wet the pants and the surroundings. Usually girls stop wetting the bed at the age of 6 years and boys at the age of 7 years.

Apart from babies, toddlers and children. Bedwetting also occurs in adolescents, adults and the elderly. Accidentally or indeed have health problems.

There are several ways to deal with bedwetting, for example a bedwetting alarm that will make a loud sound when the sensor detects fluid, or with the hormone vasopressin to reduce urine production at night.

Sleep Disorders During Pregnancy

Incidence of insomnia, night lightening and parasomnias (especially restless legs syndrome) to snoring and excessive sleepiness. There are several sleep disorders in pregnant women that you should know.

These disorders occur as a result of the physiological, hormonal, and physical changes associated with pregnancy. Although they are most common during the third trimester. However, the exact nature and incidence of sleep disturbances in pregnancy is unknown. Given these limitations, we present a recent review of the current relationship between sleep and pregnancy.

Sexsomnia

This disorder is more severe than Sleep Walking or Nocturnal Eating Disorder. Sexsomnia is a disorder when a person engages in sexual activity, while still sleeping. In a 1996 case study of seven people with sexsomnia, the disturbances ranged from moaning, masturbation to sexual assault or rape.

In at least five cases, five people have been acquitted of sexual assault charges by stating that they fell asleep during the attack.

The largest study, an internet survey of 219 people who said they had sexsomnia. Research published in 2007 in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, suggested that sleep deprivation, stress, alcohol, drugs and physical contact with a bed partner play a role.

Sleep paralysis – Sleep Disorders

Sleep paralysis refers to the inability to move while sleeping or when waking up. A person who experiences sleep paralysis will usually have problems moving limbs, cannot make a sound and so on. Sleep paralysis is usually accompanied by scary hallucinations or nightmares.

Sleep paralysis occurs when the sufferer is half asleep, deep asleep, or awake when experiencing sleep paralysis. This condition generally occurs when the patient sleeps on his back or facing up, which is characterized by feeling short of breath like suffocation, chest tightness, body can not move and difficulty speaking.

Jet lag

Flight fatigue or jet lag, medically called desynchronicity, is a physiological condition that occurs due to disruption of the body’s circadian rhythm; it is classified as one of the circadian rhythm sleep disorders. Post-flight motion sickness results from fast travel across long-distance meridians (east-west or west-east), as is done by jet plane.

Post-flight motion sickness may last for several days, and a one-day cure rate per time zone traversed is a generally accepted guideline. Read also: Jet Lag Prevention | Tips to recover faster from it

Legs moving uncontrollably or Restless Legs Syndrome

Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS), is a sleep disorder that causes the urge to move the hands at night. The desire occurs while sleeping or lying down and usually occurs because of discomfort, numbness, pain, or a sensation of goosebumps.

Restless legs syndrome (RLS), also known as Willis-Ekbom disease (Willis-Ekbom disease), is a neurological condition that causes people to have an uncontrollable urge to move their legs, usually due to leg discomfort. Moving your legs will temporarily relieve the discomfort. This uncomfortable feeling can also occur in the arms.

RLS generally occurs at night at bedtime or when a person is trying to relax. This can interfere with sleep—which causes daytime sleepiness—and make traveling difficult.

Tooth Friction or Grinding (Bruxism)

Most people probably do teeth grinding, grinding and grinding their teeth during sleep from time to time unconsciously. Sounds really annoying for someone sleeping next to him!

Sounds like grinding or grinding of teeth, this is medically called bruxism, it usually doesn’t cause damage, but when grinding occurs over time, teeth can be damaged and other complications can arise, such as jaw muscle discomfort or pain.

Oversleeping – Sleeping beauty syndrome or Kleine Levin Syndrome (SKL)

Kleine-Levin syndrome (SKL) or medically known as KLS is a sleep disorder that affects very few people in the world.

KLS is a very rare and complex disorder related to the nervous system that occurs continuously. This disorder is known as ‘Sleeping Beauty Syndrome’ because the patient sleeps more than 15 to 20 hours.

This sleep disorder is serious and scary. The disorder is linked to a certain genetic line that usually occurs in teenage boys. Kleine-Levin syndrome is one of the most terrible types of sleep disorders because until now there has not been a definite cure.

Rapid Eye Movement (REM) – Sleep Disorders

One phase of sleep is REM (Rapid Eye Movement). REM behavior disorder is a condition in which the brain cannot send signals to the body to stay still during sleep. People with this disorder dream in their sleep. But they are not only dreams but can also act out of their dreams. Yelling, hitting, kicking and even running around. When they wake up, they will usually remember the dream, but not the brutal act.

Rarely have this condition. Usually attacks the elderly. This disorder is thought to be a symptom of Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative neurological disorder.

Night terror

Night terrors or sleep terrors are sleep disorders that can frighten you while you sleep or wake up suddenly from a terrible nightmare. Generally, these Night Terrors occur in children but can also attack adults. This disorder usually begins in the pre-REM stage of sleep, known as non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.

Night terrors sufferers usually wake up screaming and cry immediately. So far, medical science has not been able to find the mystery of what is wrong with this Night Terrors disorder. But medical believes that this type of disorder is directly related to the central nervous system and human brain.

Sleep schedule disorders / Circadian rhythm sleep disorders

Sleep wake schedule disorders (sleep schedule disorders), namely: circadian rhythm sleep disorders in which the patient cannot sleep and wake up at the same time desired, even though the amount of sleep is fixed. This disturbance is so associated with normal circadian sleep rhythms.

The parts that function in circadian regulation include:

• Body temperature, blood plasma, urine, kidney function and psychology.
• In the normal state of circadian rhythm function regulates the biological cycle of the sleep-wake rhythm, which is one-third of the time for sleep and two-thirds for waking/activity.

Body movement disorders

Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD)

A sleep disorder that involves repetitive movements of the limbs during sleep and can be associated with arousal activity in the brain during sleep. Some patients diagnosed with periodic leg movements during sleep may also have Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) that occurs during the day.

Sleeping Sickness (African trypanosomiasis)

African trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness is a parasitic disease of humans and other animals. It is caused by a parasite caused by the bite of the Tsetse fly with a parasite of the species Trypanosoma brucei which attacks the central nervous system and can lead to death.

How does a person with sleeping sickness feel?

Patients who are attacked by this fly will feel very sleepy during the day, but experience insomnia at night. Sleep becomes uncontrollable if the disease gets worse which eventually leads to a coma.

Sufferers are also often injured from falling due to falling asleep suddenly while driving or doing other activities and progressive damage to the nervous system begins to occur.

Treatments of Sleep Disorders

• For psychogenic insomnia: behavioral therapy is often beneficial. Relaxation sessions improve the sleep of patients with significant anxiety. Hypnotics may be prescribed in some cases.
• In the case of extrinsic insomnia, recovery generally occurs within a few weeks by eliminating the responsible factor and by advising to have a bedtime ritual that promotes falling asleep (avoiding large meals, intense physical exercise or a hot shower just before bedtime). sleep) and to adapt the bedroom environment to sleep.
• In the event of altitude insomnia: prior treatment with acetazolamide may be effective.
  In case of sleep disorders related to the intake of alcohol or drugs: the treatment consists of the eviction of the responsible drug which can be difficult in certain cases and requires a specialized care of the patient (psychological support… ). As a preventive measure, the doctor should prescribe hypnotics as little as possible for routine use (the duration of treatment should be as short as possible and its dosage reduced).
• Treatment of narcolepsy is symptomatic. It uses stimulants (methylphenidate) to improve drowsiness. Cataplexy, hallucinations and sleep paralysis are treated with antidepressants.
• There is no effective treatment for sleepwalking.
• The treatment of night terrors consists above all in reassuring the parents because recurrence is rare.
• Treatment of sleep disorders associated with REM sleep involves clonazepam or antidepressants.
• The treatment of nocturnal bruxism is necessary because of the risk of dental alterations in the most severe cases: rubber dental gutter, psychotherapy in the event of significant stress. No drug has proven its effectiveness.
• Treatment of primary enuresis involves behavioral therapy and bladder training. Treatment of secondary enuresis is the cause of this enuresis.

Not to be confused with…

The interrogation most often makes it possible to make the diagnosis. It should be noted that the main diagnosis to be ruled out in the event of sleep disorders associated with paradoxical sleep is a nocturnal epileptic seizure. This diagnosis can be eliminated by polysomnography (recording of the electrical activity of the brain and the muscles of the eye).

Information: Cleverly Smart is not a substitute for a doctor. Always consult a doctor to treat your health condition.

Sources: PinterPandai, Health Communities, AccqSleepLabs, Very Well Health, Cleveland Clinic

Photo credit: JayMantri / Pixabay